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Reading VRM/VDDC temperature sensor values on a Radeon 5870 card

09-11-2011, 06:54 AM

Hello all
I'm basically trying to find out how to get a XFX Radeon 5870 to be cool while performing well under Linux. This requires me to modify the cooling on the card as bit, as the stock cooler sound level varies from not-that-noisy to jet engine level. The thing is, the GPU doesn't seem to be the hardest thing to cool on this card, the VRM (voltage regulator modules) are. The card consumes about 180W when running at full throttle, and a significant amount of this heat is deposited in these tiny VRMs.

In Windows there's a tool called GPU-Z which allows you to see the temperatures of these units:

I'm looking for a way to read these temperatures using the Catalyst driver under Linux. I assume it's possible somehow, since I'm using the Catalyst driver, which is also what's used under Windows with GPU-Z. A hackish way is totally fine for me, I don't need a fancy GUI program like GPU-Z.

Is it possible using "aticonfig --pplib-cmd" somehow? I know I can get fanspeed readings using this command:

Code:

aticonfig --pplib-cmd "get fanspeed 0"

and set them using this command

Code:

aticonfig --pplib-cmd "set fanspeed 0 <fanspeed in percent/auto>"

and the following commands reads the VDDC levels (in volts), so we're getting close:

Comment

Yeah I found the radeonvolt program too, unfortunately the VRMs on my card don't support reading via software (as far as I can tell). The only VRMs that radeonvolt support is the Volterra VT1165. I'm the one who made the last two posts in the thread you linked to. At least I know now that reading these temperatures isn't a function of the Catalyst driver, but rather accessing the chips directly via PCI and I2C. I promise to update this thread if I find any information on the subject.

Seems the author of the program has gone AWOL though. At least he isn't responding in the thread anymore.